FASCINATION WITH SCIENCE

Herlinde Koelbl is a German photographic artist, author and documentary filmmaker. In this remarkable book, she interviews 60 pioneering researchers of our time, quite a number of whom have won the Nobel Prize. Each interview is accompanied by photographic portraits, where the main one features the essence of the scientist’s research work written on their hand – this is sometimes an equation, but also keywords. The specificity of the questions indicates the depth of Koelbl’s background research that elicits engaging personal responses illuminating the subject’s life and work. Readers feel they are getting to know the real person.

Among the most common characteristics mentioned are patience, staying power, hard work, perseverance, intelligent curiosity, passion, focus, confidence, concentration, discipline, willpower, energy, motivation, commitment, learning from failures, luck, asking the right questions, organisational capacity, cooperation and inspiration. There is a natural concern for recognition – the Nobel prize is the ultimate – which also involves publication in key journals and citations. All this involves a lot of competition and rivalry along with cooperation within teams. And then there is the institutional bureaucracy and the constant need to bring in new grant funding. Naturally, a principal motivation is to leave the world a better place through new scientific discoveries and a passion for learning new things. Interviewees are also asked why people should study science, and what advice they would give to young scientists – there are a lot of valuable insights to be gleaned.

One of the leitmotivs is the challenge of being a highflying woman in science, especially juggling this commitment with family life. Microbiologist Pascale Cossart describes herself as somewhat hyperactive and good at multitasking – also a workaholic: ‘it is no secret that if you want to be successful in science, then you must work incredibly hard.’ You also have to be resilient in the face of setbacks and rejection of papers. She advises young scientists to pursue projects that interest them, not just trendy ones. Her work has been on listeria, and Koelbl makes sure that all her subjects provide an accessible summary of their research. Cossart ran her lab as a big family, taking care of everyone’s psychological needs. A number of people comment that the French scientific system shuts down your lab when you reach 70, but they usually find further opportunities.

Virologist Françoise Barré-Sinoussi also worked at the Institut Pasteur, and was so focused that she nearly missed her own wedding due to losing track of time. Her husband remarked that ‘I know that on her list, I’m not number one. Number one are her parents. Number two is her cat. Number three is the lab, and I am number four.’ She is famous for her work on the AIDS virus, sharing the 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Luc Montagnier. She describes her struggle with depression as well as her work as an activist – also the amusing story of receiving the call from the Nobel committee and hanging up because she did not believe the news. The phone continued to ring until the news got through. Her message to the world is that life is short and the only thing that matters. She also advises people to be tolerant because it is important for peace, and to fight against inequality.

Biochemist Frances Arnold’s father was a nuclear physicist, and she herself is curious and adventurous, starting off as a mechanical engineer, then working in energy and moving into biochemical engineering. She experienced a shift in attitude towards women in science having children, noting that raising a family is more of a partnership than it used to be. She won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work on directed evolution, and put her success down to being hyper-organised while maintaining good life balance. She was resilient in the face of personal tragedies, and admitted to being pushy and aggressive. When asked by the president of Caltech why she was so arrogant, she said, ‘Oh my goodness Mr President. If I weren’t, I wouldn’t survive.’ Her message to the world is to take care of the people around you: ‘it will bring you strength and happiness that will then propel you to do creative things. And stay curious.’ (p. 197)

Among the British scientists interviewed are Sir Paul Nurse, Lord Martin Rees and Sir Tim Hunt. Nurse was influenced at an early stage by the work of Sir Karl Popper, which he says helped him plan better experiments, formulate a clear hypothesis and try to destroy it: ‘by destroying an idea, you actually make progress.’ He supports early public discussion of ethical issues raised by scientific discoveries, for instance CRISPR (Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier are also interviewed, though before their Nobel Prize). Martin Rees describes his style of thinking as that of an engineer, and emphasises the role of luck in everyone’s life. He remarks that there is a lot of tension between the forces of freedom, security and privacy, and that today’s society is less resilient with higher expectations. He advises that we need to think long-term and realise the consequences of our actions on future generations. Tim Hunt’s sense of humour comes over strongly, balancing playfulness with groundedness. An ill-judged remark at a conference brought an abrupt end to his career, though he said his professional life was already over – he won the Nobel Prize in Medicine as far back as 2001.

As I suggest in the title for this review, this book really does embody the spirit of science in the scientists interviewed and will indeed fascinate as well as enlighten its readers.